BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT: David Waldman
Today the Blogometer talks to David Waldman (aka Kagro X), a Contributing Editor at Daily Kos and the Editor-in-Chief of Congress Matters.
(If you're looking for Friday's edition of Blogometer, click here).
Where did you grow up?
West Orange, NJ
Where do you live now?
Sterling, VA
If you have an occupation other than blogging, what is it?
These days, that’s it.
You used to be a Hotline staff writer -- care to share a memory from your Hotline days?
We were visited one day by [TN Sen.] Lamar Alexander, who was a consulting client of Hotline founder Doug Bailey. Alexander was astonished to learn that the mighty Hotline was written, at that time, in the attic workspace of an old house converted to office space in Falls Church, VA, by a bunch of haggard-looking twenty-somethings who looked as if they’d rolled out of bed at 4 a.m. Of course, we had, because that’s when you had to get up to pick up the day’s papers. I imagine The Hotline is still written that way, but you don’t have to drive to the distributors at 4:30 anymore, do you? (No, fortunately! -- ed.)
What's on your iPod right now?
My iPod is empty. I loaned it to my mother, who tried to but an audio book on it, and it got wiped out.
What book do you think every person should read?
The one my mom put on my iPod. I certainly wish she had just read it instead.
Please finish this sentence: “When I’m not blogging, you’ll probably find me…”
…shuttling the kids to school, Tae Kwon Do, swimming lessons, etc. Maybe wishing I could find a reliable way to blog from a golf course.
What has been your favorite blog post, or your favorite story to write about?
I really enjoyed blogging about the 2005 “nuclear option” showdown in the Senate. Researching it was a great crash course in Senate history and procedure.
Which blogger(s) do you consider indispensable, if any?
I tried to answer this, but so many people do so many different things so well, I couldn’t do it. I will say I’ve been tremendously impressed with Steven Aftergood at Secrecy News and Ryan Singel at Wired’s Threat Level blog, though they lie outside of what we tend to think of as the blogosphere. But it would be absolutely nuts of me to try to distinguish between the gradations of indispensability of the people inside it.
Who's your favorite non-liberal blogger?
I realize I’m supposed to demonstrate a certain sort of fair-mindedness and show that I’m open to reading non-liberal bloggers, but there’s no point in finessing it. I’m open to it, I just don’t find anything there that interests me, and many of them doubtless feel the same way. I’m sure there are plenty who are smart and readable, but I don’t read science fiction, and I don’t read conservative blogs.
What would you realistically like to see Democrats accomplish in 2009?
Congressional Democrats? Realistically, I’d just like to see them stop ceding power to the executive branch. Of course, I’d love to see some progress in turning the economy around, and have them find a way not to be caught by surprise by any more outrageous uses of any of the various bailout funds now in operation. I’m more focused on seeing grassroots Democrats accomplish things in 2009. Specifically, making the transition from opponents of the Bush “administration” to knowledgeable and effective advocates for progressive policy changes.
If you could give President Obama advice, what would it be?
I would like to see him open up to the possibility that the “Truth Commission” type proposals from [VT Sen.] Pat Leahy and [MI Rep.] John Conyers is as much about looking to the future as about the past. That’s been his knock on it, but I think that if you take into consideration the Watergate to Iran-Contra to Bush II trendline, it becomes very difficult to argue coherently that taking a close look at the way the George W. Bush White House tried to expand executive power doesn’t have forward-looking relevance, and isn’t about the future. Even if you believe that Democratic presidents don’t or won’t engage in the same activities, the reality is we’re not going to have Democratic presidents forever. An a rule of law that depends on which party is in the White House is no kind of rule of law at all.
What keeps you up at night?
The likelihood that President Obama will not take the above advice, and that we’ll see some new administration pick up right where the last one left off, because nobody thought it would or could ever happen again.
Please feel free to ask and answer your own question.
Do you want to promote your blog, Congress Matters, by telling everyone what you’re up to over there?
Well, since you asked, yes I do. A large part of what we’re doing is seeking to answer the question of what’s next for the liberal progressive blogosphere now that Democrats control both Congress and the White House. We’re trying to use the community platform to create an interactive space where grassroots activists can become better educated in the processes and procedures used to actually make changes in policy. Rules and procedure are a big mystery to most people, and that presents a barrier to participation in the follow-through that converts campaigning for change into actually creating change. We want to try to clear that up as much as possible, so that activists can make their voices heard effectively in that mysterious Bermuda Triangle-like space in between casting their votes on election day and the day they pick up the phone to call their Congressman on the day of a critical floor vote. Those are the two points at which people are most comfortable speaking up, but it’s in between where the fine-tuning is done, and where even a relatively few informed voices can help make big changes.
